"From this period [8th century A.D.] we also have what might be called the first Irish joke. A continental scholar sitting opposite an Irishman, and playing on the Latin terms, asked aloud, 'What is the difference between an Irishman (Latin Scottus) and a drunkard (Latin sottus)?' Unfortunately for the continental scholar, the Latin question could ( Read more... )

I thought I knew Greensleeves. Meaning, I thought I knew EVERYTHING ANYONE COULD EVER KNOW about Greensleeves. Then someone comes over and shames me.

http://youtu.be/AVWhxoIkHtY

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I hope everyone had a lovely time with their deceased relatives on Samhain and/or the Day of the Dead. Remember, if you ignore them then there's always the risk of them yelling at you next year because you never call ( Read more... )

Just read a beautiful story called Egil's saga. This is Christine Fells's translation from 1974 (I think there's a more popular, more recent translation published by Penguin that I will try). It took me a couple of weeks to read it, and it's short. Reason being it's hard to keep up with all the Thorolfs and Thorgerds and Thordises). Of course, this ( Read more... )

Daily life in L.A.: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/lax/53375951.htmlRead more... )

This article was written in response to Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Ireland in May this year. It's about the first Elizabeth, a polyglot who decided to learn some Irish as an adult ( Read more... )

As long as I'm talking about phrases that bother me, there's one that I didn't hear until I went to the South/Midwest (Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, etc.). The phrase is "I'm not for sure ..." At first I thought it was just a mistake and ignored it. But I have friends who say this ALL THE TIME. It's getting on my nerves. Am I wrong? Shouldn't you ( Read more... )

The next person to say "easy-peasy" gets my foot up their ass.